Chief Smith reports department assessment to city commission
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By Pamela Permar-Shierling
Brunswick Police Chief Angela Smith updated the City Commission during their Wednesday, Oct. 21 meeting on several items including recruiting and retention, policy, and the Axon cameras.
Recruiting and Retention: in 2026 10 officers have been hired and nine have resigned. The 2025 numbers were flipped; nine officers were hired and 10 resigned.
Current personnel include 50 sworn officers; one who has finished the required training program; eight civilians; and one open civilian position; one part-time officer.
Vacancies include police officer, detective, sergeant, lieutenant, K9 handler, and fleet & asset manager which is the open civilian position.
Promotions include: five corporals; four sergeants; two lieutenants.
The clinician / co-responder has responded to over 100 calls for service in the seven months she has been with the police force including mental health assessments, follow ups with adult protective services, participation in multidisciplinary teams with gateway, Southeast Georgia Health System, and St. Simons by the Sea; critical incident debriefings with police officers after major incidents; and is currently working on an homeless resource fair scheduled for Nov. 5 from 10 to 2 in Mary Ross Waterfront Park.
The department has expanded its wellness program and holds one wellness event each month. There is a mandatory 24 hour debriefing conducted by either the chaplain or the clinician for officers involved in critical incidents. The upcoming wellness event will be a walk and families will be invited to participate.
A victim’s advocate is available to follow up with domestic violence cases.
“A lot of times,” Chief Smith said, “domestic violence cases do not always end up at the district attorney’s office.”
The department’s victim’s advocate will follow up with child abuse, elder abuse, sexual assault, and homeless population, as well as homicides.
Chief Smith said some of the victims don’t have insurance and need help with taking care of services.
According to Smith 84 domestic violence arrests were made in 2025. Through September of 2026 55 domestic violence arrests have been made.
Patrol calls for service this year average 3,453 per month. Brunswick police have responded to over 31,000 calls year to date.
The department continues to run a “Lock Your Vehicle” campaign due to the guns stolen from unlocked vehicles and used in crimes.
UCR (the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting) Part 1 crimes for 2026 are as follows:
• Homicide – 4 with three arrests made.
• Rape – 9
• Robbery – 22
• Assault – 307
• Burglary – 26
• Larceny – 350
• Vehicle Theft – 24
• Arson – 0
While the city’s Axon camera policy is in place, it is being updated to include the state certification requirements.
The department is preparing for community connect which is a camera registration program. Community members can register their cameras with the city police department so if a camera is needed in an investigation, the business or homeowner could be asked if their camera can be used in the investigation.
The department is also looking at a camera integration program in which a business would allow their camera to integrate with the police department camera system in real time.
The department continues to work at community engagement through their citizens academy, coffee and conversations, and Fifth Sunday.
Mayor Cosby Johnson said he was troubled by the continued reports of misuse of the cameras emphasizing that is not happening in the Brunswick Police Department.
His suggestions included restrict access to camera information; limit to only a few trained officers; produce a warrant to access the camera information; how long to keep the information and where the information is stored.
Chief Smith assured Johnson that no one outside the BPD has access to the camera information.
“Right now we are trying to determine how long to keep the information,” Chief Smith said. “We will probably purge within 30 days if the information is not associated with a crime.
